Southington Residents Criticize Proposed Changes At Bradley Hospital

BILL LEUKHARDT, wleukhardt@courant.com

SOUTHINGTON — For more than two hours Monday, residents urged the town council to preserve services at Bradley Hospital, whose owner wants to close an in-patient wing and move the emergency room to a new location.

Residents have expressed concerns about the fate of the hospital for months since Hartford HealthCare, the health network that includes Bradley, ceased performing surgery and a few other services at the75-year-old hospital. The group has proposed shutting the emergency room at Bradley and moving it to a new location

Rosemary Champagne, a cancer survivor who has collected 3,000 signatures in six weeks from residents who want no more changes at Bradley, predicted that many more people will sign petitions, send letters to state health regulators and seek to preserve services at Bradley.

"We have the voice of the people," she said.

Before residents spoke, Hartford HealthCare official Patricia Walden said the network is evaluating how best to use Bradley, what services make sense to provide as regional demographics and the health-care field changes.

She said the proposals are in the early stages and told the council that people's opinion will count as a plan is put together.

"Our goal is not to close the institution but to transform it," Walden said.

At the end of the meeting, the council voted to send a letter to state public health care access officials saying that the council is unanimous in its support of keeping in-patient services, with full emergency room services at Bradley.

Council Chairman Michael Riccio also said council members and Town Manager Garry Brumback will meet this week with Hartford HealthCare officials.

In a statement released Aug. 6, Hartford HealthCare said it "plans to expand its long-term commitment to the Town of Southington with a proposal to transform The Hospital of Central Connecticut's Bradley Memorial campus."

Steady declines in the number of in-patients who are served at the location, reflecting a national trend, make Bradley's continuation as an inpatient environment unsustainable, the statement said.

"We acknowledge Bradley's rich history, and we are proud of our ongoing service to the Southington community," said Lucille Janatka, president of Hartford HealthCare's Central Region, which includes The Hospital of Central Connecticut. "This is an opportunity to create a bright and robust future for this location and the people we serve. We are working to create a sustainable plan for coordinated services."

A community advisory committee is being formed to continue the planning for transforming Bradley, the network said in its statement.